Insulator



March 26, 1929. K. A. HAwLEY 1,706,488

INSULATOR Filed Sept. 22. 1925 MU. m2*

Patented Mar. 26, 1929.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. V

KENT A, EAWLEY, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, AsszceNoJaV To Locxn INSULATOR coa ronATIoN, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, A CORPORATION or MAnYLANn.

INSULATOB.

Application and september 22, 192s. seria; No. 57331.

This invention relates to insulators. The object of the invention, generally stated, is to provide a protective device 1n the nature of a guard or shield located be- 5 neath or at the open bottom of an insulator for excluding dust and particles of matter which might otherwise accumulate on the underside of the insulator and which, if of a more or less conducting nature, might cause short circuiting or at least a sufficient shortening of the leaka e path as to result in decreased eiiciency i not destruction. of the 1nsulator.

It has been pro osed to provide a cu like member beneat Aan insulator to exclu e foreign matter, the cup member belng .attached to a suspension element, supporting pin or the like, depending upon the type of insulator, but such tentative arrangements have been found unsatisfactory` in actual service, partlyI because of the fact that the shield or protector is really separate from the insulator itself.

The object of the present invention, more specifically stated, is to provide an insulator with a protective shieldcarried thereby and secured thereto so that no reliance will be placed upon attachment to a or the like, it being consequently possib e to e ui guards at the factory and prior to shipment so that the user may mount the insulator in the usual manner without any preliminary `operation such as would be entailed by installing the protecting devices.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an insulator and a shield or guard therefor connected therewith in an extremely simple manner, it being possible to eect disconnection in case any necessity might arise.

A further object of the invention is to provide ashield or guard which may be constructed as a stampinr from thin sheet metal having sufiicient resllience that the guard may be snapped into place as for instance by the coaction of intertting ribs, grooves or .the like, the resilience serving to retain the guard invplace,.the guard; being moreover of such formationasto avoid contact or interference," with the`- supporting pin, 'suspensionelement thflike usedl in con? junction'wi-th`..theinsulator#' i'. t,

Toi the attainment ofA `the for other. objects and advantages ve. .invention thel 30 insulators with the protective shiel s or` consists in the details of construction and the arrangement and combination to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in t e accompanying drawing in which: v

The yfigure is 'a view artly in elevation and partly'in section oi) an insulator and guard constructed in accordance with the invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, I have, for the sake of illustration, shown an insulator l of the pin t it should be distinctly understoo that there 1s no limitation in this respect inasmuch as the invention is equally capable of employment in connection with certain other ty es as will of course be a parent to one skilljed in the art as the escription rogres'ses. The insulator 1 is of course forme as a body of insulating material and is here represented as having a transverse groove 2 in its pe though i top and an annular roove 3l in its eriphery,

as is customar T e bottom rtIon of the body is forme with outer and inner depend-l ing skirts 4 and 5 respectively, here represented, though not necessarily, as being of unequal lengths. The skirts are spaced apart and inwardly .of the inner one is a l socket 6 which receives the supporting pin 7 which may be of any ordinary or preferred typie and which may be secured in place wlt in the stocket by any suitable means or method.

When insulators of this variety, or other types for that matter, are used in quarries, around cement mills and many other places where there is a' great quantity of dust in the air, it frequently occurs that the undersurface or the walls of the skirts become coated with fine particles which in many instances are suiiiclently conductive to reduce the current' leakage pathvofthe insulator so that its eicienc 1s seriouslyimpaired, short circuiting and ash-oversoftenl resultin To avoid this-conditionll provide a sield or guard indicated generally'by .the numeral 8, which guard is preferablyconstructed of thin sheet metal pressed, stampedor .othervwise formed into a cylindrical shell having an upstanding outer wallaf9` 'of ractically the same diameteras the inside o? the outer i skirt 4'. r thecenter :of the guard or-shell is anppemng 10 for thev `accommodation of the p1n -7,*the.j`material around the-opening beingfformed a tubulark Sleeve 11y whi 

